Oklahoma § 63-1061 - Power of authority

§ 63-1061. Power of authority

Every authority shall have all powers necessary or convenient to

carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this act,

including the following powers in addition to others herein

specifically granted:

(a) To sue and to be sued; to have a seal and to alter the same

at pleasure; to have perpetual succession; to make and execute

contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the

exercise of the powers of the authority; and to make and from time

to time amend and repeal bylaws, rules and regulations.

(b) Within its area of operation: to prepare, carry out and

operate projects and to provide for the acquisition, construction,

reconstruction, improvement, extension, alteration or repair of any

project or any part thereof. Provided, however, that a public

hearing to consider a proposed project requiring construction,

purchasing, leasing or renting of more than twenty new housing units

shall be held together by the authority and governing body, and any

such project must be found to be in the public interest by a

majority of the members constituting said authority and a majority

of the members constituting said governing body as a condition

precedent to the implementation of any such project. Notice of the

public hearing required by this provision shall be given by

publication in a newspaper of general circulation within the

jurisdiction of the authority at least ten (10) days and not more

than thirty (30) days prior to said hearing; provided that an

additional public hearing shall be held by the authority before the

same shall select any location for any contiguous or noncontiguous

area of land on which the authority proposes to construct more than

twenty additional new housing units, and such hearing shall have as

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its subject the location of the proposed additional units. Notice

of the public hearing required by this provision shall be given in a

newspaper of general circulation within the jurisdiction of the

authority at least ten (10) days and not more than thirty (30) days

prior to said hearing and three members of the Commission must

concur in the selection of any such location, except that the

aforesaid proviso concerning an additional public hearing shall not

apply to a location in an approved urban renewal project area.

(c) To undertake and carry out studies and analyses of housing

needs within its area of operation and ways of meeting such needs,

including data with respect to population and family groups and the

distribution thereof according to income groups, the amount and

quality of available housing and its distribution according to

rental and sale prices, employment, wages and other factors

affecting the local housing needs and the meeting thereof, and to

make the results of such studies and analyses available to the

public and the building, housing and supply industries; and to

engage in research and disseminate information on housing and slum

clearance.

(d) To utilize, contract with, act through, assist and cooperate

or deal with any person, agency, institution or organization, public

or private, for the provision of services, privileges, works or

facilities for or in connection with its projects; and,

notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this act or in

any other provision of law, to agree to any conditions attached to

federal financial assistance relating to the determination of

prevailing salaries or wages or payment of not less than prevailing

salaries or wages or compliance with labor standards, in the

development or administration of projects, and to include in any

contract awarded or entered into in connection with a project

stipulations requiring that the contractor and all subcontractors

comply with requirements as to minimum salaries or wages and maximum

hours of labor, and comply with any conditions attached to the

financial aid of the project. Construction, restitution,

improvement, extension, alteration or major repair of any project or

any part thereof shall be open to competitive bidding: provided,

however, nothing in this section shall prevent a local housing

authority from requesting proposals from property owners and/or

developers to provide certain kinds of housing to the housing

authority either presently existing or to be developed; provided,

that the local authority establish safeguards relating to laws and

regulations of the United States wherein the same has entered into

contracts with the authority to provide financial assistance in

acquiring the same; provided, further, that no authority shall

discriminate in its seeking, or in the award, of any contract for

services, acquisition of real or personal property, construction of

buildings, dwelling units, streets, utilities, site grading,

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 63. Public Health and Safety

landscaping and repairs to any of its holdings or upon property that

the authority plans to acquire, to include renovations, solely based

on the race, sex, color, religious beliefs or national origin of a

person or firm; except an Indian authority may give preference in

its awarding of a contract in all forms so long as the services to

be performed, or the construction of buildings, dwellings, site

improvements, repairs or renovation is to be performed or carried

out on a federally recognized tribal reservation or former

reservations and only then upon land held in trust by, or owned by,

the respective Indian tribe; and provided, further, that all

previously listed restrictions and regulations concerning public

hearings and locations of said projects are complied with in their

entirety.

(e) To lease, rent, sell or lease with option to purchase any

dwelling, accommodations, lands, buildings, structures or facilities

embraced in any project and, subject to the limitations contained in

this act with respect to the rental of or charges for dwellings in

housing projects, to establish and revise the rents or charges

therefor; to own, hold and improve real or personal property; to

purchase, lease, obtain options upon, acquire by gift, grant,

bequest, devise or otherwise any real or personal property or any

interest therein; to acquire by the exercise of the power of eminent

domain any real property or interest therein; to sell, lease,

exchange, transfer, assign, pledge or dispose of any real or

personal property or any interest therein, provided, however, that

before any such personal property shall be sold it shall be

advertised for sale in a newspaper of general circulation within the

jurisdiction of the authority, and such advertisement shall state

the time and place where written bids shall be received, or public

auction shall be held, that such property shall be sold to the

highest bidder, and that the authority may, within its discretion,

reject all bids and readvertise such property for sale in the event

any property, real or personal, acquired by the authority, by

eminent domain or otherwise, is later found to be in excess of its

needs, or unsuitable or unuseable for any reason, such property

shall, before being sold, leased, exchanged, transferred, assigned,

pledged or disposed of in any other manner, be first offered to

those persons, individuals, groups, organizations, corporations,

municipalities or their successors from whom it was first procured

by the authority, at the same price as paid by the authority at the

time of acquiring same, and except that lands acquired by the

authority may be sold to other governmental agencies for public

purposes, as long as such parcel of land does not exceed one percent

(1%) of the total land held by the authority and the sale is made

within ninety (90) days of the effective date of this act; to make

loans for the provisions of housing for occupancy by persons of low

income; to insure or provide for the insurance of any real or

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personal property or operations of the authority against any risks

or hazards; to procure or agree to the procurement of government

insurance or guarantees of the payment of any bonds or parts thereof

issued by the authority, including the power to pay premiums on any

such insurance; provided, however, that notwithstanding any

provisions in this law, the authority may develop programs for the

sale of individual homes and/or two-family units to low income

families or to families who have at one time qualified as low income

families under this act, under terms which the housing authority may

establish under conditions acceptable to bondholders, other lenders

and the federal government.

(f) To invest any funds held in reserves or sinking funds or any

funds not required for immediate disbursement in property or

securities in which public funds in the custody of a county

treasurer or the Treasurer of the State of Oklahoma may be legally

invested; to redeem its bonds at the redemption price established

therein or to purchase its bonds at less than such redemption price,

all bonds so redeemed or purchased to be cancelled.

(g) Within its area of operation: to determine where slum areas

exist or where there is unsafe, unsanitary or overcrowded housing;

to make studies and recommendations relating to the problem of

clearing, replanning and reconstruction of slum areas and the

problem of eliminating unsafe, unsanitary or overcrowded housing and

providing dwelling accommodations for persons of low income; and to

cooperate with the state or any state public body in action taken in

connection with such problems. Provided, however, the authority

shall not have the power to relocate any persons to other areas

until housing has been provided for such persons under this act.

(h) Acting through one or more commissioners or other persons

designated by the authority: to conduct examinations and

investigations and to hear testimony and take proof under oath at

public hearings on any matter material for its information; to

administer oaths, issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of

witnesses or the production of books and papers and to issue

commissions for the examination of witnesses who are outside of the

state or unable to attend before the authority, or excused from

attendance; to make available to appropriate agencies, including

those charged with the duty of abating or requiring the correction

of nuisances or like conditions or of demolishing unsafe or

unsanitary structures within its area of operation, its findings and

recommendations with regard to any building or property where

conditions exist which are dangerous to the public health, morals,

safety or welfare.

(i) To exercise all or any part or combination of powers herein

granted.

The powers of an authority shall not include: (1) the power to

appropriate funds of a city or county; (2) the power to levy taxes

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and assessments; (3) the power to zone or rezone; or (4) the power

to make exceptions to zoning ordinances or building regulations of a

city or county.

No provision by law with respect to the acquisition, operation

or disposition of property by other public bodies shall be

applicable to an authority unless the Legislature shall specifically

so state.

Amended by Laws 1982, c. 305, § 2, emerg. eff. May 28, 1982.